Construction Machine Blog

Recently, there was a live Spiderman & Villain fighting appearing on the street of Abu Dhabi. Why is it called Spiderman & Villains fighting? It is because the fighting happened in the air, and one man fell down from a height of 40 meters, which scene can only be seen in such scientific movies as the Spiderman.

Spiderman in the air

Tower crane in the air

According to Khaleej Times Online, the whole story goes like this. The victim, a 39-year-old Arab assistant engineer got enraged when the 33-year-old Asian crane operator called him ‘crazy’ over some work-related dispute. In a fit of anger, he climbed the crane tower to discipline the operator. An altercation developed between the two and in self defence the crane operator hit him with an iron bar. The assistant engineer fell down from a 40-metre-high crane and died.

I am very sad at this accident, which should have been avoided. Although both the engineer and the crane operator are experts in some aspect, they fail to have the least common sense of safety, because when you are in the tower crane, you should pay close to your behaviors in case even a trivial mistake would bring about disastrous result. You cannot be distracted in the crane, let alone fighting. As for the crane operators, they should always keep focused and keep calm. Any bad and unrest mood should be dispelled before they board the crane.

Other crane accident

Other crane accident

This bloody tragedy must give a good lesson to all drivers, especially crane operators and alarm them again of life safety. In addition to the basic rules mentioned above, there are also some other safety tips that crane operators should keep in mind. For example, the crane operators should keep consistent with the hand signals from his guide strictly. This involved information, including tips and hand signals, has been covered in my two previous posts. If you are interested, you can go back to the homepage my weblog, finding and reading them.

Wish everybody safe

All in all, I want to remind all crane operators: Do not play fire with your cranes ; keep yourself happy and safe everyday, which is the best way to love both yourself and your family.

These days, the horrifying typhoon Morakot is sweeping through the whole Asia, from Japan to Philippines, and now it reaches China. The typhoon Morakot is extremely destroying. It has caused and will continuously cause heavy storms and mudslides and many other consequent disasters. As far as it is reported, many buildings have collapsed and many villages have been buried because of mudslide with many casualties and unaccountable ones.

Typhoon Morakot

Typhoon Morakot slams China, Taiwan

Since the typhoon is so destructive, the involved governments are all very concerned about it. They have put lots of resource and equipment to limit its damage and rescue those in danger. However, just as I have mentioned above, as some villages are totally buried with all roads outside blocked and the ground is so slippery that helicopter cannot land, many rescuers can do nothing but to wait. As a expert of construction machinery, I get an idea as soon as I read this. I think, the excavators can play a constructive role in the process of rescue.

An excavator clears the landslide area in search and rescue operation

An excavator (also called a digger) is an engineering vehicle consisting of an articulated arm (boom, stick), bucket and cab mounted on a pivot (a rotating platform, like a Lazy Susan) atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. Although it is mainly used in construction basis, building buildings or tunnels, the excavator is versatile. It can be used as many other function, which I think will make itself a powerful tool in the typhoon disaster.

Why Excavators
To begin with, excavators can help clear the way. After the typhoon went by, many roads would be blocked by rocks, trees and other substances, which makes the affected place isolated and even more dangerous, neither the insider can get out nor the outsider can get in. Though convenient, helicopters come across a problem with the rescue. It cannot land on the slippery ground left behind the heavy storm. As a result, the excavator might be a good alternative. It can not only get into the influenced places by itself, but also clear away these obstacles on roads, making further rescue effective and efficient. In addition, excavators are also an essential to search the living in the ruins and wreckages. As I have mentioned at the right beginning, many people, the living ones, have been buried in the collapsed substances. To get them out, shovels are not appropriate, for it would take more time than the trampled ones can afford. Using excavator would be more effective and efficient.

Helicopter cannot land because of the slippery ground

excavators can clear roads

As a result, I really hope the involved governments can take a serious thinking about the application of excavator for the rescue.

After I have finished my last blog, I realized that I might have made a mistake, which would probably put some readers into confusion. The mistake is that I have not given a basic introduction of the bricks. I do apologize here for my fault and share my information about bricks with all of you showing interest.

I think, all of us have some common sense of bricks. They’re simple to use, inexpensive, attractive to look at, and they can last hundreds of years. And of course, as I have mentioned before, they are main building material for the Great Wall of China. However, if you want to be an expert on this topic, knowing this is still not enough. There is something more you should know about them. Let’s take a closer look at them!

What is brick?

Stone is a natural building material you can use the moment you dig it out of the ground. Bricks, on the other hand, have to be made from clay before we can build with them. Clay is a naturally occurring ceramic based on the chemical elements aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. If you’ve ever dug wet, clay-rich soil, you know it’s very thick and sticky. To turn this gooey material into hard, durable bricks, we have to cut and mold it into rectangular chunks which are then fired in an industrial oven called a kiln at temperatures of over 1000°C (1800°F).

stone building

brick building

The advantages of bricks

Compared with some other building materials, bricks have some following advantages. First, clay is available throughout the world in large quantities and brick making is a fairly simple process, so bricks themselves are relatively inexpensive. Building bricks are much lighter and easier to work with than stone and sometimes last longer. They’re attractive to look at, weatherproof, and—like other ceramics—very good at resisting high temperatures. By using different clays, it’s possible to make bricks in different colors. Traditional red bricks take their color from iron in their clay, while yellow bricks have a greater quantity of lime or chalk.

bricks of different shapes

bricks in different colors

Types of bricks

According to their application, bricks can be divided into two kinds: ordinary building bricks and refractory bricks:

Building bricks are made to a standard size (typically 20-22cm long, 9-11cm wide, and 5-7cm high (approx 8-8.5in long, 3.5-4.5in wide, and 2-3in high), with the dimensions varying slightly from country to country). They’re made from higher grades of clay and finished on at least one side (face) so they look attractive on houses and walls.

Refractory bricks are made for high-temperature use for lining such things as industrial smokestacks (chimneys) and household fireplaces, so they tend to be made more crudely and less attractively finished. Unlike ordinary bricks, they’re typically made using such raw minerals as fireclay, alumina (aluminum oxide), silica (silicon oxide), and dolomite (calcium magnesium carbonate)

Building bricks

Refractory bricks

The process of brick making

The places or factories in which bricks are made are called “ceramic tiles” or “brick kiln. They are typically built in places where there are large supplies of clay available nearby.

The first stage in making bricks involves digging the clay from pits in the ground. Raw clay isn’t immediately usable as it is: rocks and other impurities have to be removed first by screening and filtering.

The clay is then mixed with water and kneaded in machines that resemble giant traditional food mixers or modern bread making machines. The now-soft clay mixture is squeezed out through a rectangular-shaped hole (imagine toothpaste squeezing from a tube with a square-shaped hole) in a process called extrusion. Wires cut the lengths of clay into separate bricks, which are then stacked up on trucks and moved into drying rooms where the moisture they contain is allowed to evaporate over a period of about a day or so.

Once that process is complete, the trucks are moved again into giant kilns (the ovens that turn the soft clay into hardened bricks ready for building), some of which are over 100m (330ft) long! The firing time and temperature vary according to the type of clay being used and the type of end-product required.

Although much more efficient, this process—digging the clay, shaping it, and heating it to harden it—is essentially the way bricks have been made for at least 6000 years. Traditionally, bricks were shaped by hand and left to fire in the sun. Sun-dried adobe bricks are still made this way.

The whole process of brick making

Brick machine

Thank you for finishing reading my blog. Congraduations to you for becoming a expert on bricks.

If you like traveling, you must have been to China. If you went to China, you must have spectacled the Great Wall. If you visited the Great Wall, you must have touched the surface of the wall, feeling the bricks and mortars. However, when you felt them, have you ever been obsessed with them and eager to know more about them? They are trivial but indispensable; they are plain-looking but attractive; they are they are numberless but unique. Now, follow me. Let me unveil the mystery of the bricks of the Great Wall~~~

Great-Wall-of-China

bricks of the Great Wall

Where are these bricks from?

The Chinese people already got familiar with the techniques of wall-building very early. During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, some states began to build the fortifications to defend their own borders. Basing on this, the emperor of Qin built a new wall to connect all these separate remaining fortifications. At that time, the building material was mostly stones and rammed earth.

It was not until the 1400s that the bricks became the building material of the Great Wall. Since the ceramic technique was already mature that time, the bricks were hard enough to build the wall and they were easier to get than stones. As a result, bricks became the main building material for the wall. Compared to the rammed earth, bricks are stronger and more elaborate. They had dimensions of 370 (L) x 95 (H) x 187 (D) millimeters and a weight of about 10Kg.

Wall Brick(Ming Dynasty)

So back to our previous question, where dose these bricks come from? As archaeologists demonstrated, they were made in local kilns, the brick kilns, which were located mainly along the two sides of the Wall. A large number of brick kilns for the construction of Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were recently discovered near the starting point of the Wall. The following are some pictures of the “factory” of the bricks.

brick kiln of Ming Dynasty

another brick kiln of Ming Dynasty

 How many bricks building the Great Wall?

There is no official figure about the number of the bricks of the Great Wall. As a matter of fact, they are discountable. But some semiofficial data shows the exact number of the bricks, including the stones, is 651,325,878,854. Some experts consider the number even larger because the weather in China has deteriorated some of the bricks over time. The number is really surprising, but not convincing enough.

 The romance among the bricks

It is said that there is a story behind each brick of Great Wall. The number of the bricks is countless, so are the stories about it. Among so many folk story about the bricks, the most popular one may be the romantic story between Meng Jangnnv and his husband. Meng’s husband was forced to carry bricks for the wall construction. Later, he was weary out to death and was buried among the bricks. At the bad news, Meng cried sadly in front of the wall. As soon as she started to cry, the Wall began to collapse. This is the famous scene of the drama that Meng tears up the Great Wall

Romance about Lady Meng and his husband

the Statue Lady Meng

The cranes are flying is a movie of remarkable significance in the Soviet-movie history. As soon as it was produced, the movie created a stir in the filming field. In 1957, it won the Golden Palm Prize on the Cannes International Film Festival. Now the cranes are flying again. The difference is that the cranes of this time are not birds but air cranes, a special helicopter used for fire suppression and weight-lift operation.

The Cranes Are Flying

The Cranes Are Flying Again

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As we all know, body language plays a very important role in people’s daily communication. It is especially true in the communication between crane operators. Cranes are commonly used in the construction of towers and industry, which is very noisy. To make sure the operators can “hear” the instructions and communicate with others effectively, lots of hand signals created and used. Knowing these meanings of all these hand signals is the first step for people to become a qualified crane operator. As for common people, having a basic knowledge about these signals can help them deal with some emergent situations happening on construction sites related with cranes, which are quite often. Here are the most commonly used hand signals during crane lifting operation.

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The crane truck is a complex machine that has a myriad of uses from moving heavy objects to loading supply ships and hoisting equipment. They are frequently used in construction, transportation, utilities, mining, drilling for oil, railroad yards, heavy equipment yards and building supply dealers. y safe operation of these vehicles is critical. Operators must learn to use crane trucks properly and safely so costly accidents and serious injuries can be averted. The following are some tips I found on the internet which I hope can be of great help to the crane operators.

• One of the biggest hazards of operating a crane is the possibility of electrocution. When working near overhead power lines, employers, supervisors, and workers must exercise extreme caution. Preventing Electrocutions of Crane Operators and Crew Members Working Near Overhead Power Lines, a publication of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, provides a sobering look at this possibility and discusses how to prevent it.

• And not to dwell on the hazards, but be aware that occasionally trucks are fitted with boom cranes when they have not specifically been designed for such applications. Fortunately, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is watching out for you and discusses this danger in this Hazard Information Bulletin. Outriggers are a very important component of crane stability:  Outriggers must always be set up properly on a solid foundation.  The outriggers use hydraulics to lift the truck off of the ground.

• Counterweights must be placed beneath the crane cab to prevent the crane from tipping forward. The weight of the counterweights is adjusted according to a formula that includes the boom radius, the weight of the load and the angle the boom is operating at. The crane operator must be able to use mathematical charts to calculate the appropriate counterweights.

• Most cranes have onboard computers that the operator enters information into to determine if he is operating the crane according to manufacturer specifications. The computer is meant to be more of a back-up system to alert the driver if he is exceeding the load limits of the crane truck he is operating.

• Load moment indicator lights will turn on if the crane’s operating capacity is being approached. The load needs to be reduced if these lights go on.

• Crane operators maneuver both foot petals and joysticks to control movement of the boom both left to right and forward and back. The foot petals control the telescoping aspects of the boom as well as the pump pressure.  Crane operators also control the winding and unwinding of the winch, and any rotating of the cab. All controls should be labeled.

• Don’t skimp on crew. Two other workers are necessary for the safe execution of a lift-the oiler and the signalman. The oiler is in charge of the crane’s parts while the signalman is what he sounds like-the man who gives hand signals to the crane operator as he performs the lift.

Doyle Peeks is a handicapped old man living in Texas. He should have enjoyed a healthy and energetic body if not for that tragedy.  It is the destroying nightmare haunting him all these year, but now he chose to tell it to the readers, especially to the crane operators, to keep them from repeating what he did. The following is what Doyle said about his tragedy.

The accident happened on October 6, 1988 on the shoreline of Lake Ray Hubbard near Dallas, Texas. At that time, I was a crane operator with nearly thirty-five years of operating experience. I just got too confident. I thought I could go racing down a slopped embankment without rolling the machine. I had always thought that if a machine ever started to roll that I could hang on to something and not be thrown off the machine. Boy, was I ever wrong. It happened so fast, I was on the ground before I knew what was happening. Prior to falling off of the machine, I grabbed at everything I could and couldn’t find a thing to hold on to.

 The roll-over protection landed on my left knee and pinned me down. It took an hour and forty-five minutes to get another machine to the site to lift it off of me. Diesel was running under me, and I was losing blood fast. My left arm was broken in five places and all but mangled. I now have a steel plate in it holding the five breaks together. I lost about fifty percent use of the arm. Thank God, I can still pull control levers with it.

 Am I now paranoid about seat belts? You bet. When I mount a piece of rubber tired equipment now, the first thing I do is fasten the seat belt. I pulled a dumb, stupid stunt, but I will not be fool enough to do it again.

After reading his story, I think we can get at least two lessons from Doyle Peeks. To begin with, crane operators, young or old, experienced or not, fasten that seat belt. In addition, as for the manufacturers, they should add a steel bar, heavy expanded metal or pipe across each side of the small loader/backhoes which could prevent an operator from falling or being thrown off of the machine.

There are so various concrete mixer brands on the market that purchasers often feel confused. Different brands are of different sizes and different prices as well. So how to choose the right one?

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 Concrete is a kind of man-made stone. You make it by mixing limes, clay, sand and water. You can do the mixing either by hand or by machine. The machine is called a concrete mixer, or a cement mixer. This blog is covering the history of both concrete and concrete mixer briefly.

History of concrete

So far as we know, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamian and Greeks were among the first who used concrete, but they did not use it quite often. In stead, It is the Romans who began to use it a lot in their buildings about the time of emperor Nero, 60 AD. From then on, they used it more and more. That is why many old Romanic architectures we can still see today are made of concretes.

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